Jayden Gimbergh, Luke Buckley, Claire O’Mara and Katie Salter were earlier this month showcasing their talents in Trans Tasman tournaments in Sydney and Brisbane.

Gimbergh played for the NSW U16 Boys’ Blues team and Salter the U16 Girls’ Waratahs team at the series in Brisbane, where they competed against teams from Queensland, Victoria and New Zealand.

Gimbergh’s team claimed gold in the U16 boys’ division after beating New Zealand in the final, while Salter’s team finished seventh.

At the same time Buckley and O’Mara were in Sydney, Buckley with the NSW U16 Boys’ Country team and O’Mara the girls.

She was joined in that by Tamworth’s Jamie Prendergast, while Isaac Moxon, Patrick Hofman and James Newberry were also part of the boys’ team.

Their Trans Tasman series pitted them against teams from NSW (the born 2000 Blues and Waratahs sides for both boys and girls) and born 2000 New Zealand teams. 

Both teams just missed out on playing for the medals but had some good results.

The Country girls upset eventual winners NSW U15 Blues 9-8 in their round game while the boys defeated the NSW U15 Waratahs 8-7 after being down 6-1 at half-time.

It was a great experience for all the players, NIAS assistant coach Gail Salter said.

Head coach Craig Salter said the weekend was a good, constructive two days.

“We concentrated on a lot of defensive positioning,” he said. “How to gain distance in attack and how how to position your defender where you want them to to create more space.”

They also did their usual hour and a half each day of fitness.

The program still has a couple of months to run.

“We’ve got two full weekend sessions left and a one-dayer in August,” Salter said.

For that they’re hoping to organise a trip to Sydney or the Central Coast.

“We’re trying to organise to get some games and some outside coaching,” he said.

They’re also trying to organise for the end of October/early November a Tri-Series with the Central Coast and Hunter.

It will be played in 14s and 16s and finish the program.